ObamaCare is Killing People in Rural America

obamacare

Gotta get rid of those bitter clingers somehow. Who needs death panels, when you can just eliminate hospitals. Next time a liberal tells you that ObamaCare makes medical care more affordable, ask him how anyone is supposed to afford it when they can’t even reach it.

Stewart-Webster Hospital had only 25 beds when it still treated patients. The rural hospital served this small town of 1,400 residents and those in the surrounding farms and crossroads for more than six decades.

But since the hospital closed in the spring of last year, many of those in need have to travel up to 40 miles to other hospitals. That’s roughly the same distance it takes to get from Times Square to Greenwich, Conn., or from the White House to Baltimore, or from downtown San Francisco to San Jose.

Since the beginning of 2010, 43 rural hospitals — with a total of more than 1,500 beds — have closed, according to data from the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program. The pace of closures has quickened: from 3 in 2010 to 13 in 2013, and 12 already this year. Georgia alone has lost five rural hospitals since 2012, and at least six more are teetering on the brink of collapse. Each of the state’s closed hospitals served about 10,000 people — a lot for remaining area hospitals to absorb.

What’s behind it? It begins with an O and ends with an A.

Critics say the ACA is also accelerating the demise of rural outposts that cater to many of society’s most vulnerable. These hospitals treat some of the sickest and poorest patients — those least aware of how to stay healthy. Hospital officials contend that the law’s penalties for having to re-admit patients soon after they’re released are impossible to avoid and create a crushing burden.

“The stand-alone, community hospital is going the way of the dinosaur,” says Angela Mattie, chairwoman of the health care management and organizational leadership department at Connecticut’s Quinnipiac University, known for its public opinion surveys on issues including public health.

And that just happens to benefit some of the big health corps that supported ObamaCare. One of those little corrupt coincidences.

There’s a “golden hour” after heart attacks, trauma and stroke in which treatment is needed to prevent loss of heart muscle and brain tissue, says Janis Orlowski, chief medical officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges.

With just two ambulances, which are often tied up making the average 90-mile round trip to the nearest hospital, “We’re pretty much shot around here with the golden hour,” says Ed Lynch, Stewart County’s director of emergency medical services.

That’s how you kill people while promising that you’re helping them.

Peanut and cotton farmer Buren “Bill” Jones, 52, died of a heart attack a month after Stewart-Webster closed. His family had to wait about 15 minutes for an ambulance to take him to a hospital 22 miles away, where doctors couldn’t revive him. The closed hospital was 9 miles from his house, a distance his wife or daughter — who performed CPR on him at home — might have driven.

Another dead white man who won’t be voting anymore. Mission accomplished.

 

  • old003

    We are quickly running out peaceful options to take America back.

  • pupsncats

    Everyone knows Obamacare’s true goal was to begin the implementation of total federal government control over health services. Everyone also knows that the statists want to clear out the rural areas and herd the masses into the city where its easier to control them (except for the big, taxpayer subsidized agricultural conglomerates paying illegal aliens which gives big government a two-fer-the big corporation funds the statists political campaigns and the illegals get a free ride). I guess one of the “added benefits” of Obamacare is the closing of rural hospitals so there is an incentive for rural residents to move into the city. Gotta get those people weened off their Bibles, guns, fait in God and silly notion that independence from government control is viable today.

  • SoCalMike

    This is the crux of the argument against GOVMED or Obamacare.

    It will kill people. As Daniel Greenfield made perfectly clear, it already has.

    But I don’t expect the cowards in the Republican Party to make this case.
    They’re too conformed and afraid of the media and opposition saying mean things about them.

    • pupsncats

      Obamacare will also implement another layer of inequality. Not only did Congress exempt themselves from the law but the wealthy can simply pay out of pocket to receive their health care from the best. And more people will be forced into the Medicaid system because their income, if they have one, will not be enough to purchase health insurance even with taxpayer subsidies. This too, I think, was deliberate. The statists want more and more people dependent upon the taxpayers so the only way to support the increase in dependents is to raise taxes, which we all know the left is always willing to do.

  • http://ruleofreason.blogspot.com/ Edward Cline

    Whoever said Obamacare was supposed to accomplish “good”? It was designed to kill and to make survivors dependent on the government.

    • pearl87

      The fact that she said that and lives to tell about it is a truly amazing testament to the degradation of the intellect of the public.

  • Libslayer

    The dead white guy will be voting democrat from now on.
    So it’s a two-fer for Obama.

  • Scar

    As noted in previous posts, I’ve already been hamstrung by ObamaCare. I’m semi-retired with no employee benefits, so I’m stuck with the state exchange. It’s basically only good for catastrophic care and I keep it because I ride motorcycles.

    Unfortunately, there’s still more to hate about ObamaCare. Over the past six years I’ve had three biopsies for prostate cancer. Fortunately, they were all negative and my insurance was great. But now, with the $6,350 deductable, I won’t even bother to see the Urologist for my annual checkup. Why? Because the tests, the scan and the biopsy, if necessary, would cost me approximately five grand, an amount that I can’t really afford.

    So I’ll roll the dice and hope that I make it to Medicare age…assuming that Medicare is still around at that time. Chalk up another victory for the ACA!

    • ScarletPimpernel

      Scar – you should look into the medical cost sharing groups,like Liberty Health (http://www.libertyhealthshare.org), to see what is available to you in your area. Also, Medi-Share and others:

      https://mychristiancare.org/medi-share/
      https://mychristiancare.org

      Here is Dr.Elaina George’s website as well; she was on a show a couple of days ago talking about the medical cost sharing alternative. She has links to Liberty Health Share and Medi-Chare at her site. There is also a link to “The Self Pay Patient” as well.

      http://drelainageorge.com
      http://www.theselfpaypatient.com

      Please check these out and do some research. There are alternatives, and I do hope you can avail yourself of them. Keeping you in my prayers!

      • Scar

        Thanks for the info. Virtually anything is better than Obamacare…I’ll check it out.

    • truebearing

      Increase your intake of zinc and selenium. Men get way too little zinc, and as you get older, the body doesn’t absorb it as well, so don’t go by the ridiculous RDA info put out by the idiot government. Be careful with increasing the selenium beyond the recommended dose. Also, boron has shown the ability to fight prostate cancer. It also makes bones harder, just in case you do have an accident.

      Pomegranate, beta sitosterol (in good sized doses) are also extremely helpful. Quercetin and curcumin are also very beneficial to the prostate, and reduce inflammation throughout the body. I use quercetin instead of anti-histamines for allergies — unless I am dealing with really heavy amounts of allergens, then i use an anti-histamine as well.

      Dr. Sears has a good product if you want to just take one pill.

      http://www.primalforce.net/catalog/products/prosta_vive_betaq.html

      KAL makes a great Beta Sitosterol product. It’s called “Phytosterol Complex.” The prostate formulas you see on TV that brag about their products have too little of everything to do much good. We tried some for my father and when i read the list of ingredients, it was obvious why they didn’t help him.

      Buy these supplements on the internet — Amazon is hard to beat for price or selection.

      I highly recommend you do some serious research on alternate ways to treat prostate inflammation or prostate cancer. The doctors won’t tell you about anything other than surgery, radiation, etc. The problem with the standard procedures is that the cancer can come back, and does more often than most people know, even if the prostate is removed.

      It is small wonder that the same fascist Pharmaceutical companies that jumped on the Obamacare bandwagon are now pushing to have supplements banned. That will kill millions more.

      Good luck…and don’t stop researching and cross-checking claims. You might want to contact a naturopath for some expedited help. Good luck.

      • Scar

        I’m very open-minded about alternative treatments/therapies, so I’ll definitely follow up on your information. It’s interesting that you mentioned Pomegranate, because my wife mentioned the same thing earlier today. I guess I’d call that a sign! Thanks for your help.

        • Pete

          Jerry Doyle has a Robert Scott Bell on from time to time, who is big on nutrition.

          robertscottbell.com/
          epictimes.com/robertscottbell/

          Supposedly, salt makers strip out everything from salt except for sodium and chloride. So some of the trace mineral people use to get form salt, they are not longer getting. That was just one of the thing the doctor talked about.

          • Scar

            I’ll check out his web-site. I really appreciate all the positive input I’m getting today. Thanks!

          • Pete

            I would be careful when looking at Mr Bell’s claims.

            If I am correct Mr Bell, is not medicine anti-medicine, but he pushed nutrition of trace elements a lot.

            Salt – The Next Diet Villian?

            In my initial post I said he was a doctor. I am not sure. I am not seeing that anywhere. Maybe I am confusing guests on Jerry Doyle’s radio show. So be careful. But what i hear I liked.

    • pupsncats

      And when you become entitled to Medicare, who calls the shots? The federal government.

      • Scar

        I’m all too well aware of that. But when you’re on a fixed retirement income, your options are limited.

        • pupsncats

          Yes our options are limited because the American people have allowed the federal government to overstep its Constitutional authority and become the Nanny State it is, forcing more people to be dependent upon the “benevolence” of our elected rulers. The incremental Socialism/Facism that has replaced our Constitutional Republic increases every decade.

    • Biff Henderson

      Are you a veteran? Even though my scant VA disability pension has me thinking twice about whether or not I should pop for the Cream of Wheat the rationed health care they provide is affordable and given their travel allowance one’s proximity to a VA center is not a hinderance. The folks over there constantly remind me I earned it. If that’s the case take advantage of the thanks the government thinks is your due.

      • Scar

        Not a veteran, but thanks for the thought.

  • truebearing

    Obama’s incremental Holodomor. Eventually, the number of mostly white, older — but not exclusively older — people dying from situational denial of care will reach huge numbers. The Left has gotten ever more clever at democide without culpability, but they are still guilty of premeditated mass murder.

    The deaths directly resulting from Obamacare serve a number of aspects of the Left’s evil agenda. First is their racial animus toward whites. Then there is their fascist partnership with mega-agriculture firms, then their is the elimination of patriots, and finally, this facilitates the environmentalist goal of concentrating the population in cities.

    Concentrated populations are easier to indoctrinate and intimidate. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to learn someday that part of the calculus in forcing whites into cities to make them more easily intimidated into compliance by the threat of violence from blacks, the Left’s brownshirts. There is nothing too devious or evil for the Left.

    • dwayne roberson

      The nightmare has begun and is reality. Full implementation of the QALY system will actually have the government selecting who gets to live.

      • truebearing

        They are already cracking down on doctors for dispensing “too much” pain medication. Yes, there are some doctors who are criminally handing out prescriptions, or there were, but that is relatively easy to catch. instead of just ferreting out the irresonsible or the criminal few, they are restricting pain medication for everyone.

        In this last election, survival was on the ballot. That is what drove the Republican victory. It had better stay on the ballot for 2016, but if that isn’t enough, it is time to remove the Left by force, whatever it takes, for as long as it takes.

        • dwayne roberson

          I think without the internet as a forum for free debate the left would have crushed any impediment years ago. I know very little about Obama’s new internet initiative, but I am sure that any suspicion is well beyond valid.

          • truebearing

            He wants it shutdown ASAP. It’s killing him, and he knows it. I’m surprised they didn’t make it more of a priority. Thank God for stupid strategic blunders by despots.

  • Bash Brannigan

    This is Obama’s baby. Does he not even know what’s going on, or has he decided it’s a small price to pay? Barack, YOU’RE FIRED!

  • Bamaguje

    “Peanut and cotton farmer Buren “Bill” Jones, 52, died of a heart attack a
    month after Stewart-Webster closed. His family had to wait about 15
    minutes for an ambulance to take him to a hospital 22 miles away, where
    doctors couldn’t revive him” – USA Today.

    Can’t the Jones family sue Obama for wrongful death? The publicity of such a suit would play into GOP hands to repeal Obamacare.

    • http://www.stubbornthings.org NAHALKIDES

      If Obama were a private CEO, yes, he could be sued for fraud. Unfortunately, as President he can’t be privately sued for any of his official acts. Here’s an interesting idea to build on yours – perhaps the new Republican Congress could vote for compensation to be awarded to some of Obamacare’s victims. That would be something to see! If Obama vetoed the bill, he’d reveal to the world how callous and uncaring he really is; if he signed the bill he would be tacitly admitting his signature legislation had caused people to die.

      • Heartland_Laird

        If the Republicans wanted to become the real party of the American middle-class, which would be its key to survival (as well as the middle-class’s key to survival), what you suggest would be a smart step. The Republicans need to push single-issue bill after single-issue bill, all of them popular/necessary for middle-class survival, and let America see Obama vetoing the bills. Make him blatantly show his intent towards Americans. Let the world see that Obama detests the people who are the fabric of America, and see that his goal for this nation is anything but freedom and anything but positive.

        • http://www.stubbornthings.org NAHALKIDES

          Good ideas (hope that doesn’t sound like self-praise, because I don’t mean it that way). Yes, single-issue bills that are easy to understand and benefit the middle class would really put Obama on the spot.

  • tagalog

    Some people point out the lessening of the groundswell movement against Obamacare as an argument that it’s actually doing good and is getting more popular. That claim needs to be countered with evidence that it’s yet another Obamacare lie.

  • Earthling

    North Carolina and Georgia losing hospitals? Hmmmm….I wonder if there were any Obama supporters in those states…..Elections have consequences.

  • http://www.clarespark.com/ Clare Spark

    If you can’t beat the red states fair and square, let them die in their rural backwaters.

  • Patriot077

    … not of our own volition. That is the aim of the totalitarian ruling class.
    Pity that young people can’t see beyond the end of their noses, and even that was planned.

  • trapper

    Oh, they’re just a bunch of damn Republicans. Who cares? says the Murderer in Chief.

  • pupsncats

    What makes people think its up to the federal government to “reform” or transform health care? Obviously, most people do. For decades, politicians have talked about “our broken health care system” and all they have ever done is make it worse. So Obama comes along, Mr. totalitarian, and uses every scumbag he can find and uses every dirty trick in the book and creates the beginning of the complete takeover of all health care by the federal government because like the totalitarians before him- FDR and LBJ-all he had to do was get a law passed and people will object and fight about it for a while but just like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid were all hated by some, eventually the overwhelming majority of people DEMAND those programs exist.

    • objectivefactsmatter

      “What makes people think its up to the federal government to “reform” or transform health care?”

      Pure theory. Ignorance is one of the requirements for belief.

  • objectivefactsmatter

    Now remember that in a free market we all know we’re responsible to plan for events. But with this takeover, all the people that had their plans (as in life plan, not specific insurance plan) disrupted by interventions can blame the ACA. It’s inexcusable to kill even a few people (or one person) to theoretically save others, no matter what the plus numbers are supposed to be.

    And in the end it looks like just about all of us are a lot worse off. These are incompetent scumbag frauds that we have allowed to run the country for ~6 years so far.

  • lyndaaquarius

    the ugliness of the will to power.